CHAPTER 54: GETTING TO KNOW ONE ANOTHER

After we gave a brief introduction of each other we decided to head out and chat over some food, and seeing as their was a tavern within the guild building we headed in that direction.

We left the training room and headed down the long corridor that would bring us back out into the main room. Entering the entrance hall Zara swiftly led us towards the tavern, entering through a set of double doors which were already open on one wall we found ourselves in a decent full tavern.

Adventures of all types fillled the space, most were in armour of some kind be it leather, plate or just in mage robes of some type. Regardless we found ourselves a white table off to one side and caught the eye of a passing waitress and ordered some food and drinks before we got into anything in particular.

Once settled down I opened us up with one thought that had been bugging me for a little bit now. "Hey so Zara forgive me if this is rude but.. how is Atar your uncle? I mean you don’t seem to be from the same race?"

This elicited a small laugh from the wolfkin which I took as a good sign. "Ahh well that’s quite simple, we are apart of the same clan, the Stone clan. It’s a martial clan where anyone who is skilled enough in combat can join. I call him uncle as he was good friends with my parents and he was just kinda always around when I was growing up."

"Oh I think iv actually heard of the Stone clan, known to be very strong warriors." Amanda nodded to herself after saying her piece.

"Well that makes sense I suppose, where exactly is it your from originally? I asked Zara.

"Oh I’m from here really, the clan has a compound just up the river, so I spent most of my time either at the compound or in the city here. My uncle brought me along for ’an opportunity’ but said I had to look after his shop for a few days whilst he sorted out the details. Thats where we met and I suppose you know the rest." Zara said whilst scratching the back of her head and avoiding making eye contact with me specifically.

"Yeah I don’t envy you there, your uncle seems like quite the piece of work." Kana noted.

"He’s normally not too bad, but I suppose that in order to get to that level of power you need to have at least a few screws loose. He is just a battle junkie at heard really." She replied with a slight snort at the end.

"Haha he definitely has a... unique personality." I tried to stifle a giggle at that but was only partially successful. Trying to get back to a more productive line of conversation I asked. "So am I correct in guessing that your are a front line warrior? Got any specific speciality?"

Zara nods at that before answering. "Yeah I prefer the sword and shield, my class is focused on drawing enemies attention and taking hits. So without sounding too conceited I am a damn good front liner." A proud smile curls her lips at that, it is obvious that she takes great pride in her abilities which I find quite endearing.

"That is actually perfect for us really, we were missing a tank in our lineup, we currently have pure damage in the forms of Amanda and Kana and then me being a bit of everything from healer to support and some extra damage. Dawn is.. well I actually don’t quite know but she is my adorable little dragon so she can be whatever she wants." I did pluck Dawn from my neck and started giving her some good ol skritches and kisses.

I got distracted by that for a little while enjoying how Dawn wriggled around in delight from my attention. A soft fought from Amanda brought my mind back on topic though. "Oh right, sorry." I sheepishly said. "So yeah as I was saying you would actually be perfect for our group so I’m happy to have you with us!"

"I for one will be glad to not have to be the front liner anymore. I much prefer to stay out of my opponents attention where at all possible." Amanda noted, and considering her rouge like build so far that seemed about right for me.

Adding to that I couldn’t help but tease Zara a touch more. "So looks like I’ll be relying on you to take a good pounding for us all, but don’t worry I’ll be right behind you to keep you in tip top condition." I found it almost as enjoyable to tease Zara as I did to tease Kana, and based on Zara’s cheeks which took on a darker shade I could only smile.

It was around that time that our food and drinks arrived and the conversation stalled whilst we enjoyed our meal, well I was slightly disappointed by it when compared to my own cooking and it would seem my companions also agreed with that sentiment based on the slight frown a saw on Amanda’s face. Whilst the food wasn’t exactly bad it was clearly not made with any oarticular care.

"Well Lilly I can safely say you are a much better cook than whoever made this." Kana eloquently noted.

I chuckled at that but didn’t deny the fact as indeed I would consider myself a much better cook. "Oh do you cook?" Zara asked me.

"Yeah iv got the mana cook skill, I tend to be the one to make all our meals when we are out and about. Have always enjoyed cooking so when I managed to unlock the ability I was quite happy." A warm smile came to me at that, I truly did enjoy cooking. Especially when I was cooking for those I cared about, watching them enjoy the food I made never failed to bring a smile to my lips. "I’ll have to cook for you at some point Zara, I’m sure you will enjoy it!"

"I would love to try your cooking, I think we should have plenty of time within the trial grounds."

"Oh that’s actually a question, do you know anything about this trial? All iv managed to work out is that’s it’s called Liliths den? Any extra info you know would be appreciated."

"Well I don’t know a lot but I do know some basics. As you said it’s called Liliths Den, it was made by a very powerful succubus a long time ago. As for the trial itself, well it is supposed to last for up to 2 weeks and is split up into a few separate parts."

"The first part take a week and is a sort of treasure hunting stage, you are sent to a large area and have to gather up treasures of some kind grant access to the later challenges. I’m afraid I don’t know much more than that really."

I thought that over for a while before nodding to myself. "So we likely have to either kill some beasts that will drop a key or are guarding it to grant us access to the second stage. What I’m kinda concerned about is if other adventures will attack us when inside in order to claim our key or treasures."

Abada spoke up then. "Well whilst I’d like to say it won’t happen I would be very surprised if a group of nobels didn’t see 4 beautiful women and decided to try cause some trouble." This brought on a variety of reactions, from Kana and Zara blushing at being called beautiful to Dawn looking indignant that she wasn’t mentioned and then myself where I was both amused at the reactions but also some concern about if that will come to pass or not.

"Well I guess all we can do is prepare ourselves for any outcome." I helpfully said. But it seemed that it was taken quite seriously by the other girls causing me to smirk.

"Well we could always try sparing somewhat so that we can get a better feel for each others abilities?" Zara proposed. Not seeing a reason not to accept we quickly finished our sub par food and made our way back to the training ground.

Where Zara proceeded to show us exactly what makes her a junior member of a prestigious warrior clan. She started off by sparing with Amanda, and whilst Amanda put up a valiant fight she ultimately didn’t stand a chance against her quick blows and near impenetrable defence. Her shield was always in the way of Amanda’s daggers and even when he jumped through her shadow and came up behind Zara she quickly reoriented herself and avoided taking anything past a shallow blow.

Despite Amanda’s speed she was eventually brought down by the much more experienced fighter. Next up was Kana and whilst she tried to keep some distance as soon as Zara caught up to her she was swiftly subdued.

Then there was me, I passed Dawn off to Amanda who happily accepted the little dragon and began to pamper her. The. I walked into the pit opposite her and spoke up. "Hey so do you mind if I use magic? Whilst I have a sword I am about as useful with it as a child swinging a pointy stick."

This did get a laugh out of Zara. "Yeah that’s fine just so long as you try not to send any lethal blows, oh and maybe save some mana so you can heal either me or you if we get injured." I smiled at that and found her request to be more than reasonable.

And so as we stood opposite each other I readied my mana and stared down at the beautiful chocolate skimmed wolfkin in front of me. Well hopefully I don’t embarrass my self here, would make it slightly awkward.